2012 racing schedule,the good the bad and the ugly.Chasing dreams in the peloton

Search This Blog

Monday, February 14, 2011

Good things have to come to an end, so they say

Here on the west coast it has been picture perfect weather. Not that I'm rubbing it in, BUT I AM.
They say we are in for 3-4 days of non stop wet weather so I tried my hardest to make it a full outdoor weekend.

Friday I blew a mental gasket on my blog, and stepped out away from what this blog is (mostly) suppose to be out. But sometimes you just have to say shite happens and take the good with the bad.

So training we. Limited http://ocvelo.com/ crew was available due to a local century ride but I think there was at one time up to 11 riders with us. That is super light considering the weather and the turn outs they have been having.
I'm new to the club, in fact have not even received my jersey as of yet.
They put together some very thought out routes that always incorporates several hills, sometimes short, sometimes long. Generally focusing on getting out of as much traffic as possible and into some open areas for real cycling skills to be tested and learned. At the end of the day I was able to get just under 57 miles and I felt we had good efforts out there.
Ive been fortunate enough over the last couple of rides to posses some power after the 50 mile marks. And have taken advantage of the tests of pulling the crew home at a fairly high pace. Patrick from http://www.theroadmultisport.com/ seems to enjoy it as well as others, so I'll continue to embark on this test to see just how hard and fast we can actually go.
Cycling is my forte and I might as well take advantage of it while I can. If I where running, I would be finishing up as they where all going home. So it is what it is.
On this day though we threw in a little extra chilli's in the sauce. And at a steady pace line of 25 mph where I was rolling 2nd wheel, we had the lead out rider crack and get so fatigued that he forgot to flick his elbow for a man change, or any other sign for that matter.
As he started quickly fading to the right side of the line, that pushed me quickly to the shoulder. Keep in mind we are only dealing with about 2.5 feet of area. I freaked out for a split second and let out some type of loud "OH SHIT" etc.. or something verbal and opted to move out as far right as I could to make sure the rest of the crew behind did not get into a chain reaction pile up. If you ever seen it, it's not pretty. If you've ever been there, it's even worse.
Within a fraction of a second I was far right out, of the line, now heading off the road on to what I hoped was at least loose dirt and not sand. To compound it there is a 6 foot tall chain link fence and at this very spot a 4 foot high steel guard rail (really ? why right here ?). First thought was, this shit is gonna hurt. 2nd was I'm not going down.
I managed to relax as I went well off road for way longer than I wanted to without a mountain bike or motorcycle. Held my composer, missed all the obstacles and manged to get back on the road while only having a minor heart attack. No one went down. And other than everyone shatting themselves in disbelief, we managed to just keep rolling.
The joke was made about 15 minutes later at the normal end of ride coffee stop, that it was just a hazing stunt to the club and I could now receive my jersey.
If that's the case ( I know it's not), I'm glad it's done and I hope I passed the audition).
I later made the comment to Patrick that my motocross instinct of all the years racing just paid off in dividends, and I wasn't joking. On a street/road bicycle you never expect to have to anticipate that. Racing motocross you expect it every 100 yards for 15-40 minutes X 2.
So that's my big story for the weekend.
Other than that, Sunday found me and the wife @ a great new local Farmers market stocking up on fresh fruits and veggies.

and

There really is nothing like fresh !!!

This morning was a short and fast 3.8 miles. I felt good with no twinges or pain. My long runs may drop off from the weekly ramp up to 10 + milers, to more frequent 4-7 mile runs. This could change if I find another 1/2 mary to train for. Otherwise my longest run portion of a race will be 6.2 and I can't see banging out 10-12 mile runs unless it's just for the glory of running some distance (which could very well happen).

12 comments:

Wow - good catch on that ride! I've been there many times before, some end good and some have ended bad. A big reason behind me not succombing to group road riding is due to a horrific pile up during my mountain bike racing years. It was nasty. Broken bones, flesh and blood everywhere. I survived but it completely turned my off riding with others on the road.

Glad to see you recovered. U got skill! That'll wake u up, that's for sure! They better give you a jersey now! lol

I been there, there is a very thin line between saving your own a$$ and signalling that all heck is going break lose, thats when "WHOAAAAAA!!!!" is yeeled to get everyones attention, intial reaction is to save yourself, exactly what I would have done, when you 5 inches off someones tire to think, break, swerve, hand signal, etc